-may face manslaughter count
A 32-year-old minibus driver who allegedly hit down and killed a senior citizen whose body was later found at Turkeyen was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson.
Leroy Forde, a father of eight of Lot 67 Victoria Road, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara allegedly caused the death of 70-year-old Leroy Bobb, of New Market Street last Saturday. When he appeared before the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday he was not required to plead to the indictable charge of causing death by dangerous driving. However, he pleaded not guilty to charges of failure to report an accident, failure to render assistance to Bobb and also a breach of his insurance policy.
Forde allegedly drove minibus BJJ 7296 in a dangerous manner, which resulted in an accident that caused the death of Bobb at North Road and Wellington Street on April 18.
He denied failing to report the accident within 24 hours to a police station or a police officer and failing to render assistance to Bobb shortly after the accident by not taking him to a registered medical facility for medical treatment.
Forde also denied that he drove the minibus without having a third-party insurance policy in force.
Forde’s lawyer Pamela De Santos applied for bail for him on the grounds that he had been a minibus driver for over 15 years and had never been involved in an accident. She also said that Forde was a father of eight and had sufficient ties to keep him in the jurisdiction.
But Police Prosecutor Denise Griffith objected to the bail application on the grounds that additional charges are likely to be laid against Forde. She also said that he may not return to the court for his trial if granted bail.
De Santos argued that those were not grounds for bail to be refused for her client, noting that “it’s a bailable offence”.
Griffith then alleged that after Forde’s bus had hit Bobb down on the day in question, he had to be urged by onlookers and other passengers to take the man to the hospital. She said he did remove Bobb from the road but went to Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara and dumped him there.
De Santos argued that that was only speculation and that the prosecution needed to present solid evidence in the case.
The magistrate subsequently ordered that Forde be remanded to prison and that the case be transferred to Court Seven for April 27.
The police said the conductor of the bus had also said that he had urged Forde to take Bobb to the hospital but that he refused, reasoning that he would be arrested. The police said the conductor told them that he became scared and had told Forde to drop him off at UG Road from where he went to visit his girlfriend. The conductor said he had told his girlfriend what had transpired earlier that day, but was scared to go to the police station to report the matter.
According to Griffith, a short while after the accident, Forde went to see someone about having his bus sprayed in a different colour and the licence plate number changed.
According to the prosecutor, Forde had to be speeding to pitch Bobb from where he was to the northern side of the road and may also have been operating his bus out of its zone at the time of the accident.
Griffith said the conductor might not be charged, but Forde could well be charged with manslaughter rather than causing death by dangerous driving as she was planning to make an application for the case jacket to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice. She said that the evidence against him pointed to manslaughter.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had told Stabroek News that the DPP had advised that Forde be charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Persaud had said that the conductor of the bus was released on station bail.
According to reports, the body of Bobb was found last Sunday morning and taken to the Georgetown hospital mortuary, where it remained unidentified until the next day when relatives recognised it in a television newscast.
An eyewitness to the accident, who declined to be named, told Stabroek News that he also saw the newscast and recognised the clothes Bobb was wearing as belonging to a man who was hit down at Wellington Street and North Road on Saturday evening. The witness, who contacted Stabroek News, said he was shocked to learn that the man’s body was found at Turkeyen.
The Route 44 minibus, which operates from Plaisance to Georgetown, was subsequently impounded and its driver and conductor arrested.
According to the witness, the accident occurred just after 6 pm. He said he was with a group of persons waiting to cross the road when he observed the elderly Bobb attempt to cross, hesitate and then continue at which point the bus hit him. (Ayanna Blair)